Add a Nerf Dart Launcher to Your Robot Rover

It was a serious undertaking to build a robot just a decade or two ago — an undertaking that required a lot of technical skill and a…

It was a serious undertaking to build a robot just a decade or two ago — an undertaking that required a lot of technical skill and a non-trivial budget. Fortunately, the recent proliferation of inexpensive and easy-to-use maker tools and components has turned constructing a robot into a fun weekend project. Those robots are most often simple rovers, and the excitement of operating them tends to wear off pretty quickly. That’s why you may want to follow Markus Purtz’s tutorial and add a Nerf dart launcher to your robot rover.

This project is intended to work with Purtz’ FPV Rover v2.0 tank design, which is a small and relatively simple robot with provisions for first-person view control. Once you’re done 3D printing and creating the FPV Rover v2.0, you can follow this guide to add a turret to your tank so you can shoot Nerf darts at enemy robots or nefarious intruders. Build two of them, and you can have miniature tank battles in your living room! This turret is designed specifically to be compatible with the FPV Rover v2.0, so no tricky modifications are needed.

To make the Nerf dart launcher, you’ll first need to 3D print the provided mechanical parts. Then you’ll need to purchase a pair of servo motors — a standard hobby servo and a 360 degree servo, two motors, two ESCs (Electronic Speed Controllers), three LiPo batteries and a protection circuit, various mounting hardware, and, of course, a pack of Nerf darts. Once you have all of the parts ready, assembly is easy. After the build is done, you’ll be able to pan and tilt the turret with the servos, and the two motors will launch the Nerf darts from the magazine at a respectable velocity.